The reaction of the right-wing media to the impending abdication of this Pope is as sickening as was their reaction to the death of the last one. They have obviously never read a word of his, any more than of his predecessor’s, condemnations of their inhuman economic system and of its wicked wars.
Like Blessed John Paul the Great, the then Cardinal Ratzinger unreservedly condemned the war in Iraq. Iran has had an arrangement in place for several years whereby the Vatican would mediate in any dispute with the United States should that matter ever really come to a head.
Benedict XVI is, as John Paul II was, a great admirer of Pius XII, under whom the Holy See had quite warm relations with the State of Israel, which was not at that time imposing military law on the Catholics of the West Bank, nor occupying that part of the viable Palestinian State created on both sides of the Jordan at the end of the British Mandate, nor bombarding the Catholics of Lebanon.
Like Blessed John Paul the Great, the then Cardinal Ratzinger unreservedly condemned the war in Iraq. Iran has had an arrangement in place for several years whereby the Vatican would mediate in any dispute with the United States should that matter ever really come to a head.
Benedict XVI is, as John Paul II was, a great admirer of Pius XII, under whom the Holy See had quite warm relations with the State of Israel, which was not at that time imposing military law on the Catholics of the West Bank, nor occupying that part of the viable Palestinian State created on both sides of the Jordan at the end of the British Mandate, nor bombarding the Catholics of Lebanon.
Well, we could not have any of that, can
we? So the Pope’s moral authority had to be destroyed by absolutely any means
whatever. Lest, having been right on Iraq, he might have prevented a war against Iran, and
possibly even bringing about the reunification of Palestine on both sides of the
Jordan while securing the sovereignty and integrity of Lebanon.
All that, and he did not agree that the world had too many proles and darkies in it. Nor that femaleness itself was a medicable condition requiring powerful chemical or surgical intervention. Nor that the preborn child was simultaneously insentient and a part of the mother’s body. He might even have dared to ask whether it is the whole of a woman’s body that is insentient, or only the parts most directly connected with reproduction?
All that, and he did not agree that the world had too many proles and darkies in it. Nor that femaleness itself was a medicable condition requiring powerful chemical or surgical intervention. Nor that the preborn child was simultaneously insentient and a part of the mother’s body. He might even have dared to ask whether it is the whole of a woman’s body that is insentient, or only the parts most directly connected with reproduction?
Much of the Catholic Right tried to dismiss Caritas in Veritate as an aberration, even to the point of weaving conspiracy theories questioning its authorship. I found these attempts to be rather shocking.
ReplyDeleteIn some respects, the Right’s craven response was worse than the liberal attitudes toward Pope Benedict XVI which simply continued the trend of open rebellion against the Church on certain cultural and sexual issues.